Wave of car bombs in Iraqi capital kills 28

At least 28 people have been killed and dozens of others injured in a wave of car bombs in Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

Police officials said five devices exploded across the capital this morning.

One exploded near the “Green Zone” diplomatic complex, the latest attacks in some of the worst violence since US troops left.

Iraqi police sources said one bomb exploded about 200 metres outside Baghdad’s international zone, close to Iraq’s foreign ministry, killing four and wounding 12 people.

Militant groups, including al-Qaeda, have increased attacks in recent months in an insurgency against the Shi’ite-led government, raising fears of a return to full-blown sectarian conflict.

Since the start of the year, attacks using multiple car bombs have become an almost daily occurrence, killing scores of people in Iraq, including during a religious holiday last weekend when bombers targeted families celebrating outside.

Bombers targeted districts in central, eastern, northern and southern Baghdad, including Shi’ite areas, police said.

An attack in Baladiyat, eastern Baghdad, killed five people and wounded 17 when a car bomb exploded near a traffic police station.

“Windows were smashed and my children started screaming and running everywhere, smoke and dust filled my house,” said a man wounded by flying shards of glass. He declined to be named. “The politicians are responsible for the deterioration in security,” he said.

Another attack in al-Shurta al-Rabaa district used a bomb on the trailer of a tractor carrying gas cylinders. It killed four and wounded 18, police said. In Husseiniya, a district on the northeastern outskirts of Baghdad, three people were killed and fourteen wounded when a mini bus driver left his vehicle armed with a bomb in a repair shop.